The Lovebirds (2020)

I remember before the Coronavirus Pandemic shut everything down like movie theaters, there were some amazing looking and funny trailers that were playing on the big screen. As we know, there were countless films that fell victim to the Coronavirus and were forced to find new homes online and one of those films is The Lovebirds which was released this past Friday on Netflix. The film stars Kumail Nanjiani (Life As We Know It) as Jibran and Issa Rae (BoJack Horseman) as Leilani, a couple who is having a little bit of a rough patch. All of that is put to the test when they get carjacked and witness a murder and then try to solve it because now they have to avoid being caught by the killer before it's too late as they run around New Orleans. The film also stars Paul Sparks (Thoroughbreds) as Moustache, Anna Camp (The Most Hated Woman In America) as Edie, Nicholas X. Parsons (Power Of The Air) as Bicycle,  Kyle Bornheimer (Onward) as Brett, Barry Rothbart (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Mr. Hipster,  Catherine Cohen (The Special Without Brett Davis) as Mrs. Hipster, Andrene Ward-Hammond (The Fright Night Files) as Detective Martin, Mahdi Cocci (Watchmen) as Keith,  Betsy Borrego (Cloak & Dagger) as Reya, and the film was directed by the amazing Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer).

I know the film has been getting a lot of flack from various critics that I have seen, but to be honest, it's really not that bad of a film. The question going into it was obviously whether the film was as funny as the trailer suggested and that is what might be the problem for most people because it definitely was not. It had some moments sprinkled throughout the film, but when you actually see all of the scenes from the trailer actually play out, you'll notice it's not as funny as the trailer made them out to be. Now the film like I said was not terrible at all as it had it's moments where it kept me entertained for the whole duration of the film. I thought Kumail and Issa made a great team in the film, but the whole film rested on their shoulders and not all of their jokes were funny all the time. A lot of the jokes in the film were those that have been used over and over again like how many times have we seen the interrogation room scene where they are not in deep trouble, but they just keep spilling their guts. I'm not saying originality was the problem, but it was the overuse of the typical comedy themes in the writing which was the overall problem and it's too bad because I am a huge fan of Michael Showalter. The film has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 6 out of 10 on IMDB which sounds about right because it's a middle of the road kind of film. That is why I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

Onward (2020)

Due to Covid-19, there were a lot of films that I didn't have the chance of seeing because of the shutdown of non essential businesses which included movie theaters. Then there was news that a bunch of films were going to be released online and sure enough when I opened Disney Plus, one film I wanted to see was on there and that was Onward which was written and directed by Dan Scanlon (Monsters University). The film takes place in a land where at one time magic had ruled the Earth, but then someone decided to make things easier and they got lazier. For Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), he never got the chance to meet his father because he had passed away when Ian was just a baby. On his 16TH birthday, his mother unveils a present that will allow their dad to comeback for 24HRS, but when they try to cast the spell, the stone breaks forcing the Lightfoot brothers to go on a quest before time runs out. The film also stars Chris Pratt (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Barely Lightfoot, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld) as Laurel Lightfoot, Octavia Spencer (Ma) as The Manticore, Mel Rodriguez (The Watch) as Colt Bronco, Grey Griffin (Unikitty!) as Dewdrop, Ali Wong (Birds Of Prey) as Officer Gore, Tracey Ullman (Panic) as Grecklin, John Ratzenberger (Toy Story 4) as Construction Worker, and Kyle Bornheimer (Marriage Story) as Wilden Lightfoot.

I thought that this was actually an excellent movie and further proves my point that Disney does not make bad films or I should say Disney Pixar does not make bad films. Every single film that I have actually seen from Disney Pixar has been very good and I would say B+ or better if you meant in terms of grades. This film has an incredible cast with Chris Pratt lending his amazing vocal talents to the project alongside his MCU compatriot Tom Holland. Not to mention, Octavia Spencer does an amazing job as The Manticore, a lion scorpion creature and what an appearance by Tracey Ullman who plays a pawn shop owner and it was amazing. Let us not forget that the film actually has an incredible story that takes us on a wild adventure from beginning to end which includes the emotional rollercoaster as well. I love the fact that they throw in a huge dilemma towards the end of the film because finding the could have been that easy especially after what they had been through, but there are some more obstacles to go through for Ian. The film was sort of a coming of age story for Ian who isn't confident enough to do anything on his own and he doesn't realize what he has had in front of him the whole time, but he grows up by the end. That is all that matters when you have a coming of age story for a young wizard elf. I loved the animation in the film, I loved how they portrayed some of the ancient magical creatures like Fairies, Unicorns, and even a dragon as a pet. This was a super fun film that I would definitely watch again. That is why I am giving the film an A- for a final grade.